A touch of winter arrived at the Summer Games on Wednesday as the U.S. figure skating team finally won its gold medal as 2022 Olympic champions.
The special medal ceremony allowed the nine Americans to parade on a track under the bright Paris sun, gaze up at the Eiffel Tower and bask in the warm cheers of fans packed into the stands at Champions Park.
Exactly two and a half years after the team figure skating event ended at the Beijing Olympics — and the doping saga of the winning Russian team began — the Americans got the medals that were not awarded at the time.
“I think the wait was definitely worth it,” said Karen Chen, wearing the first gold medal of her career around her neck.
All nine American skaters were present in Paris, including Evan Bates, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
Seven of the eight members of the Japanese team came away with their silver medals, an improvement on their third-place finish in Beijing.
The athletes were honored with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” not the Tchaikovsky piano piece that would have been played for the Russians in Beijing.
The ceremony in France was attended by family, friends and fans.
Not in a nearly empty indoor ice rink in China during an Olympics held during a COVID-19 lockdown.
“It’s an unforgettable memory for all of us to be here and receive our medals,” Karen Chen said, “to see the crowd, to see everything and appreciate it all.”
Knierim, who was skating with Frazier in pairs, had his nails painted gold.
“I thought it was perfect for the occasion,” she said of a ceremony confirmed just two weeks ago.
A Russian appeal to regain the Olympic team title was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport just before the opening of the Paris Games.
The title was stripped from her in January when another CAS panel disqualified Russian teenager Kamila Valieva for doping with a banned heart drug.
She was also banned for four years.
No Russian skater will win a medal in the French capital, even though their third place at the Paris Olympics was confirmed by a new CAS decision.
The Russian Olympic Committee has been officially suspended from the Games, but 15 people are competing as neutral athletes after verification.
The Canadian skaters lost their appeal last Friday to have their points total upgraded from fourth place by the International Skating Union.
“My heart goes out to them,” said Zhou, one of the new Olympic champions.
The unusual setting for a Winter Games medal ceremony had even more unusual features: no podium, no bronze medalists and no flagpoles.
An American flag was projected onto a large screen.
Yet, Bates said, Paris had been talked about as “the dream scenario” for medals while the United States left Beijing without any.
It was his fourth Olympic Games and this is his first medal.
“I don’t know what it feels like (to receive a medal at the Winter Games), but it feels pretty good,” said Bates, who skated in ice dance with Chock.
The longtime on-ice partners tied the knot in June.
“We grew up dreaming of this, but not in 32C heat,” Bates said in the shade, before Chock joked: “We’re not built for this heat.”
Their Olympic results were the first in a series of changes brought about by doping cases that would result in legitimate medals at Champions Park.
On Friday, 10 athletes are set to receive their upgraded medals, including two American champions from the 2012 London Olympics who initially won silver medals behind Russians who were later found to have doped.
Lashinda Demus will receive her gold medal as Olympic champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and Erik Kynard in the men’s high jump.
“Today is a victory for clean athletes around the world,” Chock said.
“Some athletes have to wait much longer than two and a half years.”
